I SPY Books — Fun & Educational!

Chances are if you have a toddler or elementary-aged child, you are already aware of how spell-binding I Spy and other Search & Find books can be…but did you also realize how beneficial they can be to growing minds?

By giving readers a jumbled array of objects (in either photo or drawn form) and then asking them (often through poems) to find specific objects, they can be great springboards for teaching reading, rhyming and observation skills. They nurture creative thinking abilities, problem solving skills and cultivate attention to detail.

Both myself and my kids are big fans of these books and find they can offer endless hours of fun and challenges–even when going through them for the 2nd, 3rd…or zillionth time! When my kids were younger, they were especially delighted when they could remember where specific objects were and could find them quickly and thus, I will add confidence-building and memory-boosting to my list of benefits to this style of book.

Not surprising, I have been told by many school librarians that their I Spy collections are amongst their most popular reads.

Following are snapshots of my current selection from this category and remember, if you would like see lots of photos of other new and interesting arrivals visit my Facebook Page often (even if you are not a registered Facebook user).